A new Sylvan Avenue bridge will soon solve the problem of floodwaters intermittently making the roadway impassable at the Trinity River.

The opening of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, with its great white arc and spiraling cables, is the signal event for the long-neglected and suddenly popular area of West Dallas.

But the bridge is just the first and flashiest of a series of major public infrastructure projects committed to what was once a forgotten backyard to the city’s more pressing priorities in downtown, Uptown and other points east and north.

No one really knows how long it will take private investment to redevelop West Dallas.

But it is clear that infrastructure projects alone will bring rapid change to the area within three years.

To some, that’s a blessing and a promise that West Dallas is being taken seriously as a part of the city’s future.

But to others, the infrastructure plans are a cause for fear and concern — the big eye of City Hall turned on their homes and neighborhoods.

“It is a sudden rush, and it all has to do with rethinking about what the center of Dallas is,” said Randall White, chairman of the West Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

“The philosophy from our city leadership in the past has been, ‘Downtown is the center of our city.’ Now you’re seeing a shift to, ‘Well, maybe no, maybe it’s this long linear park, the Trinity corridor park, that’s the center of our city.’”

West Dallas renovations

City Hall’s plans amount to tens of millions of dollars of work that will stretch across a large section of West Dallas’ border with the Trinity River.

To the north, the construction of a new $42 million Sylvan Avenue Bridge over the river is planned to begin in late March. The 27-month project will replace a surface road over the floodplain that must be closed with every heavy rain.

To the south, a proposed $5.3 million rebuilding of the intersection of Beckley Avenue and West Commerce Street is under design. The project is $2.2 million short of being funded, but officials still hope to see it finished by 2014. The intersection will be reconstructed to slow traffic, provide better landscaping and offer wide sidewalks for pedestrians and lanes for bicycles.

In the center of it all will be the $10 million conversion of the old Continental Viaduct into a pedestrian park linking West Dallas to Riverfront Boulevard. The Hill Bridge is replacing the viaduct.

Both bridges will terminate at a new $1.8 million “West Dallas Gateway,” a public plaza complete with parking and a place for pedestrians and bicyclists to access West Dallas.

Finally, what is probably the most important piece of new infrastructure is likely to be the least recognized. That is the $27 million reconstruction, under way now, of a storm water pumping station called Pavaho that will help ensure that West Dallas homes and businesses stay dry during floods.

Other major changes that are not yet designed or funded also could be on the way. Both Mayor Mike Rawlings and City Manager Mary Suhm have said they want to see the next bond program fund a southern extension of Herbert Street so it can become a thoroughfare for West Dallas. That project will be costly because it must be engineered through an existing rail line.

Extending Herbert is considered critical to realizing a City Council-adopted development plan for West Dallas.

In terms of infrastructure, West Dallas will get more attention in the next few years than it has received in decades.

That delights those who want to see the area develop and prosper.

Some wary of development

But to some in that community, the city’s efforts are simply a spur to speculators who have made West Dallas the city’s hottest land opportunity.

Debra Kroupa, a longtime affordable-housing advocate in West Dallas, thinks little good will come for residents she has helped.

“We’re not thrilled with the city,” she said. “We weren’t thrilled when they started [to plan the changes] years ago.

“A lot of people don’t understand that when property values go up, and your taxes exceed what you can afford, that is another clever way of getting people out of their homes.”

White, among other business leaders, is backing a plan to help slow gentrification of West Dallas. It revolves around City Council approval of a “stabilization overlay” that would protect the single-family neighborhood of La Bajada from being torn down to make way for townhomes and high-rises.

But neighborhood leaders say it has been difficult to persuade many residents to sign on to the overlay. Thanks in large part to City Hall’s planned improvements, there is now too much opportunity in the land, said Eva Elvove, co-chairwoman of La Bajada neighborhood association.

“We all want to make a buck, and of course they’re hesitant,” she said. “These are blue-collar people that work, and they don’t have time to attend any of these meetings. A lot of them are holding out and taking a wait-and-see attitude,” she said.

West Dallas Investments, a company that has made major land purchases in West Dallas, including La Bajada, does not support the overlay.

The company’s owners believe that their Trinity Groves retail and restaurant project will increase property values in the neighborhood. The overlay would, in effect, cap values by limiting property owners’ development options, they say.

“I hope for their sake it doesn’t happen,” said Stuart Fitts, a partner in the venture.

Many residents agree with Fitts. They want to seize the opportunity that has finally come.

But others fear losing the place where they grew up and raised their families in modest but good homes.

Elvove has worked hard to get the overlay measure passed, and she is more than a little suspicious about all the projects the city has planned for her neighborhood.

It isn’t for the homes that are there now but for the changes that are coming, she believes.

“We’ve been at a stalemate here for how many years — 60, 70 years?” she said. “Why is it all of a sudden? Are they running out of space? Somebody out there has a bee in their bonnet that they’re going to build up West Dallas.”

Controlled growth

Even as the city has focused enormous resources on the area, one arm of City Hall has worked to slow the pace of change and to make the infrastructure changes that do come work harmoniously with residents.

The Dallas CityDesign Studio, led by architect Brent Brown and planner David Whitley, drafted a master plan for a large section of West Dallas with a primary goal of protecting neighborhoods like La Bajada. It was that plan that introduced the notion of an overlay.

Brown and Whitley also have been key advocates of making the West Dallas Gateway and the Beckley-Commerce intersection places where pedestrians and bicycles are welcome even as cars are slowed down.

It’s an approach to infrastructure that, historically, Dallas has ignored.

But neither Brown nor Whitley can guess how quickly the area will change or if the plan they helped draft will be honored as a blueprint for sensitive, gradual growth.

“Within the next year, you’ve got some major pieces of public-space infrastructure coming online in the West Dallas Gateway and the Continental Bridge,” Whitley said. “That’s going to be major kick-start.”

Brown said he gets asked all the time about how quickly West Dallas will change.

“That’s the million-dollar question,” he said.

Ultimately, it’s up to residents and homeowners to push back against change they don’t want and hope their voices are heard at City Hall.

“I’m not surprised that there’s fear, and I’m not surprised people are in tune with the [CityDesign Studio] plan,” Brown said. “But creating the energy and mobilization to continue to rally for your interests — it’s a process that never stops.”

Staff writer Roy Appleton contributed to this report.

WHAT’S NEXT

Tens of millions worth of projects are in the pipeline

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge: $182 million bridge extends the Woodall Rodgers Freeway over the Trinity River to West Dallas. Opens late March.

Continental bridge redesign: $10 million conversion of the old Continental Viaduct into a pedestrian bridge and park. Scheduled to begin construction in April and be completed in August 2013.

West Dallas Gateway: Complement project to the Continental and Margaret Hunt Hill bridges. A $1.8 million public plaza at the western terminus of the Continental Bridge with access to parking and pedestrian and bicycle amenities. Scheduled for completion in fall 2013.

Beckley-Commerce intersection: $5.3 million reconstruction of the intersection of West Commerce Street and North Beckley Avenue. Intended to slow traffic, provide landscaping and create wide sidewalks and lanes for bicycles. Though $2.2 million short of funding, it is proposed for completion in 2014.

Sylvan Avenue Bridge: $42 million construction of a bridge to replace a stretch of Sylvan that runs at grade through the Trinity River floodway. Set to begin construction in late March with a 27-month construction schedule.

Pavaho Pump Station: $27 million reconstruction of a major floodwater pumping station on Canada Drive along the Trinity. Will increase pumping capacity from 82,000 gallons a minute to 375,000 gallons a minute. Under construction since fall 2010. Expected to be completed in late summer.

Herbert Street extension: The conceptual project must still be designed and funded but has gained wide support from powerful players at City Hall. The plan would see the street extended south from its terminus near Bedford Street to become a main street for West Dallas.